Daedalus; gold, Science and the Future

Daedalus; or, Science and the Future is a book by the British scientist JBS Haldane , published in England in 1924. It was the text of a reading [1] read to the Heretics Society (an intellectual club at the University of Cambridge ) on 4 February 1923.

Haldane uses the Greek myth of Daedalus as a symbol for the revolutionary nature of science with a view to his own discipline of biology .

“The chemical or physical inventor is always a Prometheus . There is no great invention, from fire to flying, qui Has not-been hailed as an insult to Some god. Goal if every physical and chemical invention is a blasphemy , every biological invention is a There is hardly any evidence of the existence of any of these, which would not have been heard of their existence, would not appear to be as indecent and unnatural. “

It is expressed in favor of the benefits of some scientific advances, arguing that it is more likely to be a complaint, rather than progressing to mankind, unless it is accompanied by a similar advance in ethics .

The book is an early vision of transhumanism [2] [3] and his vision of a future in qui humans controlled Their Own Evolution through directed mutation and use of in vitro fertilization ( “ectogenesis”) [4] Was a Major influences were Aldous Huxley ‘s Brave New World . The book ends with the image of a biologist , much like Haldane himself, in a laboratory: “just a poor little scrubby underpaid man groping blindly amid the mazes of the ultramicroscope … conscious of his ghastly mission and proud of it.”

The book has been discussed at length by other writers, including Freeman Dyson in his book Imagined Worlds and Sal Restive in Science, Society, and Values , [5] and the concept has been used in contemporary science readings. [6]

References

Jump up^ Daedalus or Science and the Future. A paper read to the Heretics, Cambridge, on February 4th, 1923